By the time the Veilstalker Lynx was secured and escorted away beneath layered containment wards, the forest had already begun to lose its edge.
The oppressive wrongness that had clung to the air loosened, mana flowing naturally again as Luna dismissed the deeper interference fields that she had casted to make this mini-test more challenging.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy with familiar warmth, birdsong cautiously returning as if testing whether it was safe to exist again.
Albedo stood near the edge of the clearing, Ember at his side, one hand resting lightly against her neck. Her flames had settled into a soft, steady glow, no longer the cutting brilliance of the chase, but something gentler. Content.
Around them, students trickled back in ones and twos, some triumphant, others frustrated, many exhausted. A few casts glances toward Albedo and Kaelith—no awe this time, no shock. Just acknowledgment.
They had seen the result.
